Kūgo Ginjō (Zanpakuto-Leader
Kūgo Ginjō (銀城 空吾, Ginjō Kūgo) was the leader of the organization known as Xcution. After being saved from Hell, he is now a member of Mistri. Appearance Kūgo has blue eyes and long dark hair that he keeps combed back, down to the nape of his neck. After being released from Tsukishima's Fullbring, Kūgo lets his hair become messy with strands hanging over his face. He is tall and wears dark trousers and a light T-shirt, over which he wears a dark jacket that has a fur-covered collar. He also wears a thin chain necklace that has an X-shaped pendant attached to it. Personality Kūgo is a calm and cool-headed individual. He is quite manipulative, shown when he attempted to hire Ikumi Unagiya to do a background check on Isshin Kurosaki, intentionally doing so in front of Ichigo in order to get his attention. According to a member of his group, he is a charming individual that apparently talked them into following him. He claims that he carries ramen around with him because he likes it. He is very cautious and caring for his friends, as he warns them in the presence of a great danger, fights together with them and is ready to even sacrifice himself in order to save a comrade. He also appears to be very concerned about innocent people and, in order to not involve them, he only picks the empty buildings if the battle were to occur. Sometimes he can play a bad guy for the sake of someone else's good but he sucks at acting and cannot give an original performance and makes a 'cliched villain' out of himself. When not under the influence of Tsukishima's Fullbring, Kūgo is shown to be very malicious and sadistic, delighting at Ichigo's emotional and physical pain. He also becomes very arrogant, bragging about his accomplishments and underestimating his opponents, and cold-hearted, planning to kill a blindly loyal subordinate just because the one has more potential than he knows and may cause a danger in the future. He becomes excited very easily, showing a big crazy smile whenever he's fired up, and likes taking risks, like leaving Ishida out of Tsukishima's victims to give Ichigo a chance of figuring out what was going on. History Some time ago, Kūgo became the first substitute Shinigami. However, he gave up the position and disappeared. According to Suì-Fēng, Kūgo was a criminal and murderer, who stole Shinigami powers. While Kūgo still was a Shinigami, he met Shūkurō Tsukishima, who was a young child at the time. After discovering that Tsukishima was like him, Kūgo cheered him up and told him that from that day on, Tsukishima would come with him. From that point on, Kūgo taught Tsukishima how to use his powers and how to fight. Sometime later, Kūgo joined Xcution along with other Humans with Fullbring abilities under the leadership of Tsukishima. Their aim was to rid themselves of their powers and Tsukishima came up with the plan to pass them onto someone who was both part Human and part Shinigami. However, when this process began, Tsukishima changed his mind and slaughtered the Substitute Shinigami and anyone who had given him their powers. Kūgo subsequently took the Substitute Shinigami's badge. Sometime after this, Kūgo became the leader of Xcution as the group continued its search for another candidate to pass their powers onto. It is later revealed that this backstory regarding Xcution is a lie created by Tsukishima's Fullbring in order to thoroughly deceive Ichigo Kurosaki, since Kūgo was horrible at acting, as Tsukishima claims. Plot For Kūgo's canon plot involvement, please see here. Equipment Substitute Shinigami Badge (代行証 死神代行, Daikōshō Shinigami Daikō): Being a former Substitute Shinigami, Kūgo has his own badge. He can fuse it with his "Cross of Scaffold" to give his Fullbring sword a new form. It is unknown if his badge has the same powers as Ichigo Kurosaki's own Substitute Shinigami badge. Similar to Ichigo's, its purpose is to observe and restrict the owner. It is at once a surveillance device for Soul Society and a device to absorb, analyze and control the user's reiatsu. It is also a device for communicating with Soul Society. Powers & Abilities Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: Kūgo is a competent swordsman, being able to hold his own against the likes of Tsukishima and Ichigo Kurosaki, having defeated the latter twice, albeit without his Shinigami powers. He was also able to take on the combined might of Jackie, Riruka, Giriko, and Shishigawara with his sword. Enhanced Speed: Due to his mastery of Fullbring, he is able to use "Bringer Light", which allows him to increase his speed and the height of his jumps by pulling on the soul of the concrete or air. Kūgo has shown to be quite fast, able to dodge successive attacks from Jackie, Riruka, and Giriko, all while they were using their Fullbring abilities. He is also able to get between a point blank attack by Tsukishima on Ichigo from a considerable distance, taking the attack himself in the process. He is also capable of dodging Ichigo's incredibly fast and powerful sword swinging after the latter regains his Shinigami powers. Enhanced Endurance: Kūgo has shown a large amount of endurance, being able to take the full brunt of the explosion caused by Ichigo's Fullbring completing and still being able to stand afterwards. Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Kūgo is able to fight barehanded, using swift movements to land blows on his opponents before they can even react. Spiritual Awareness: He has enough spiritual power for Ichigo to see his form "bathed in reiatsu". Kūgo himself is able to see and sense spiritual beings, such as Shinigami and Hollows, at a significant distance or tell in what direction they are in. He was also able to sense Tsukishima's reiatsu drastically decreasing and tell how much time he has to live. Part-Control over Invaders Must Die: As a result of exchanging powers among all of the Fullbringers as a sign of comradeship, Kūgo is able to stop Yukio from deactivating his Fullbring without his explicit orders, whilst he is in Yukio's Fullbring range. Fullbring Cross of Scaffold (クロス·オブ·スキャッフォルド, Kurosu obu Sukyafforudo): Using Fullbring, Kūgo is able to transform the Saltire pendant on his necklace into a large Claymore. The blade is a long, very wide, double-edged form of a longsword. The crossguard consists of a small red gem at the center and two straight ornate arms ending in simplistic version of a fleur-de-lis. The sword's handle runs through its guard, continuing on through a gold hollow space at the base of its blade. The handle is almost the same length of the blade itself. This part of the handle allows Kūgo to attack opponents at closer ranges *'Crumbling Scaffold' (ムブリング·スキャッフォルド Kuramuburingu Sukyafforudo): By gripping the handle near the base of his broadsword's blade and swinging the Cross of Scaffold around, Kūgo can generate large amounts of light green Reiryoku which sheathes itself over the blade. When he swings the sword at his desired target, the slash creates a massive explosion upon impact Enhanced Cross of Scaffold: Kūgo places his Substitute Shinigami Badge onto his sword, merging it with his sword. The base of the sword now features a skull with an 'X' over it. The handle in the hollow part of his blade resembles a spinal column after this transformation *'Fullbring Absorption': Upon impaling a target on his blade, Kūgo is capable of absorbing another Fullbringers ability into his Cross of Scaffold. By the effect of the ability through what would be normally a physical injury leaves no actual wound. *'Fullbring Armor': Kūgo's is able to further activate a Clad-type Fullbring, covering his body in armor plates and skeletal looking bones. His chest is covered in a bone-like lattice resembling a ribcage, further extending downward to bony plates that cover his abs. His hands are covered in gloves with the top appearing as though they were hand bones. He gains shoulder pads in the form of bony plates and bony plate shin guards that extend to his bony knee-pad plates, which extend up to his mid thigh. He also gains a belt with a large X shaped buckle. The armor is durable enough to protect Kūgo from the direct hit of a Getsuga Tenshō from Ichigo's Shikai without any signs of injury. *'Fullbring Transference': Kūgo is capable of transferring portions of the Fullbring he has absorbed to other "Fullbringers". He utilizes this by cutting those he chooses to transfer the power to. *'Enhanced Spiritual Power': After gaining part of one's reiatsu, Kūgo 's own spiritual power increases greatly. His energy-based attacks become stronger and he is able to fight Ichigo in his Shinigami form. *'Enhanced Energy Blast': By gathering spiritual energy in his blade, Kūgo is able to unleash a powerful white blast, which then fires at the target. When used against Uryū, his blast was able to damage several buildings in the virtual Karakura Town. *'Ability Replication': Upon absorption of one's Fullbring, he also incorporates their own reiatsu into the attack, making it virtually identical to the original user. This allows Kūgo the ability to use any technique that was incorporated within the Fullbring. :*'Getsuga Tenshō' (月牙天衝 Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer): Kūgo is able to use Getsuga Tenshō, releasing a blast of highly condensed spiritual power through his sword in the shape of a crescent moon. His Getsuga Tenshō is as powerful as Ichigo's own blast in Shikai and is uniquely coloured, being purple. Bankai Crossed Soul Mirror Scaffold (くろせど する みいろうスキャッフォルド Kurosedo Suru Miro Sukyafforudo): In his Bankai form, Kūgo's skeletal armor extends around his form more tightly. The fur on his jacket turns red and becomes enlarged. He also gains fur around his legs. His facial features change as well upon activating his Bankai. His hair turns white, and his eyes turn white with red sclera. A cross-shaped marking also appears on his face. The guard and the hilt of his sword gain a more skeletal appearance, with the a rigid bone-like plate bordering between the hollow portion of his sword and the blade. *'Enhanced Spiritual Power': Upon activating his Bankai, Kūgo's spiritual power increases immensely, making him capable of fighting on par with other Bankai-level opponents. *'Energy Beam': Kūgo can charge spiritual energy through his blade and fire it in the form of a beam. Trivia *Kūgo's theme song, as chosen by Tite Kubo, is "Last Man Standing" by Bon Jovi.